Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 20:04:20 -0500
Subject: M-G: New book on Philippine labor


There is a new book on the Philippine labor movement. The book will be of
interest to organizers and scholars of the labor movements, especial those
who want to promote the idea and practice of international solidarity.
Unfortunately, the publisher has no money to advertise it. The following is
a message sent by its author Kim Scipes and it contains info abou how to
order the book. Please recommend the book to your coworkers, friends, and
students. Also, you can ask your local library to order a copy or two.

>From: sscipe1-AT-icarus.cc.uic.edu (Kim Scipes)
>Subject: New book on Philippine labor
>To: Furuhashi.1-AT-osu.edu

>        Please allow me to introduce myself:  my name is Kim Scipes, I'm a
>former printer (Graphic Communications International Union) and educator
>(American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association) and I'm
>now a Ph.D. student in Sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
>I have long been an activist for building international labor solidarity.
>I have been getting your messages re the Korean general strikes through the
>labor-rap net.
>
>        I have recently published a book in the Philippines on the radical
>wing of the Philippine labor movement, and thought you and/or faculty
>members and/or graduate students in your department might be interested in
>knowing about this book, as well as people on the many mailing lists you
>seem to be subscribed to.
>
>        We have no money for advertising, and so are dependent upon
>word-of-mouth.  Would you please foward this message to the networks you
>subscribe to, and anybody in your department that is interested in labor,
>workers, women workers, international labor solidarity, Philippines,
>Southeast Asia, Asia, social movements, social movement unionism, third
>world development, political sociology?
>
>        Thank you very much for any assistance/support you can give to this
>request.  With best wishes--Kim Scipes
>
>
>Kim Scipes.  1996.  KMU:  BUILDING GENUINE TRADE UNIONISM IN THE
>PHILIPPINES, 1980-1994.  Quezon City, Philippines:  New Day Publishers.
>
>Available in the US from:  Sulu Arts and Books, 465 Sixth Street, San
>Francisco, CA 94103-4794.  Voice:  415/777-2451, fax:  415/777-4676.
>
>Cost:  $18.95 (minus 5% discount for educators and students), plus shipping.
>
>>From the back cover of the book:
>
>        "The KMU (Kilusang Mayo Uno) or May First Movement is the most
>militant labor center in the Philippines, and one of the most dynamic and
>developed in the world.  It played a key role in toppling the Marcos
>dictatorship, and has been central in the fight against the restoration of
>a system of elite democracy.  Based at the point of production,
>distribution and exchange in the Philippine economy, it has acted to raise
>wages and improve working conditions for its members, while challenging the
>various government's 'western' model of development and the Philippines'
>role in the global economy.  It has allied with social movements throughout
>the country and internationally, and is one of the creators of a new type
>of trade unionism--social movement unionism--that is a model for workers in
>both the 'third world' and the so-called developed countries.
>
>        "This is the first book-length study of the KMU, and covers the
>first 14 years of its existence.  Since the KMU is a national center of
>regional labor organizations, this book looks at the development of these
>regional labor centers across colonial and postcolonial production
>systems--capitalist agriculture in Mindanao, extractive mining in Cebu,
>plantation sugar in Negros, and a multinational export processing zone in
>Bataan--to understand how the KMU has developed.  Additionally, this book
>specifically looks at how the KMU approaches gender relations
>organizationally, focusing on the Kilusan ng Manggagawang Kababaihan
>(KMK)--the gender-based women worker's organization--as well as looking at
>women's leadership in nationwide organizations and in local unions.  This
>is the first book to examine the changes in the country from the
>dictatorship to the reestablishment of elite democracy from the perspective
>of militant labor.  While focused primarily on the 1980-90 period, this
>book also evaluates the situation under the Ramos administration, and the
>splits that initially appeared to threaten the existence of the KMU in
>1993."
>
>
> Note:    This book would be excellent for classes on the Philippines,
>Asia, "third world" development, labor, social movements, social movement
>unions, workers, women workers.  Although not a theoretical book, it is an
>in-depth empirical study that provides extensive material for theoretical
>intervention.
>
>        And if you would be so kind as to ask your library to order it....






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